Dallaglio dazed by whistler Watson

It was largely forgotten in the euphoria of victory, but, if England had lost the Final, fingers would have been pointed at referee Andre Watson.

The choice of a South African highlighted again the difference in interpretation of the rules between the hemispheres.

Coach Clive Woodward and No.8 Lawrence Dallaglio were perplexed by Watson's ruling at the scrums.

Dallaglio said: ' We gave away, amazingly, six penalties at the scrum. There was only one side that wanted to scrummage today and it got penalised six times.'

With two minutes of normal time remaining, Watson penalised England when loosehead prop Trevor Woodman stood up when the forwards were told to engage. Elton Flatley kicked the equalising goal to take the match into extra time.

Woodward said: 'We went through the whole tournament without giving away a scrum penalty, and then we concede six.'